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Monday, March 22, 2010

Home Is Where Your Art Is

So here's Part Two of of the story of my 90% off shopping spree at Hobby Lobby.

The night I found the first cartload of stuff I told you about Thursday, I had walked into the store about 20 minutes before closing time and happened across the clearance aisle, which was totally not enough time to shop a 90% off sale. After being warned over the loudspeaker to"Please make your final selections and make your way to the registers," about 3 times, I knew I had two options: 1.) I could hide out, get locked in, and have all night to shop, or 2.) come back first thing the next morning.

I chose option 2. Mainly because I'm a scaredy-cat and didn't have a flashlight for when the lights went out.

So, I went back the next morning just so I could get these:

I've been waiting for a while now to find a good deal on a bunch of empty frames. And this was a great deal! It's a growing trend to hang a group of empty frames on a wall, but I wanted some to use for a gallery wall for the masterpieces my kids are always creating. I even had the perfect wall picked out right by the kids' craft table in our basement.

I got these 7 frames for right at $20, add in two bottles of craft paint for 99 cents each, and the project still costs about the same as a box of Pull-ups. These prices really were ridiculous.

I chose my favorite paint color of the week: Desert Turquoise. I still can't believe it only took about 1 and a half bottles of this to paint all 7 frames. (I love this stuff!)

After the paint dried, I added a little saw-tooth picture hanger to the back of each frame. ( I forgot- those were an extra 99 cents for the package at Wal-Mart).

I decided to make a chalkboard out one of the frames, so I used a scrap piece of thin board (I don't know what this stuff is called, but it's basically a wood fiber board that's rough on one side and smooth on the other.) Then I sprayed it with my favorite Krylon Chalkboard Spraypaint that I had leftover from a previous project.

The next thing I did was to lay them all on the floor to decide how I wanted them to hang.

After some careful measuring and leveling, they were on the wall. I added these little pinch clips I had to hold the interchangeable art.

absolutely Delightful!! ...very well done! I will certainly give this a try. I hopped over from Skip to My Lou and I am so happy that I did! Please accept my invitation to drop in at my place one day this week when you get a moment. until later...

Great idea. Love it! As soon as I read your previous post about HL and the 90%, I went the next day and found some things that I had looked at before. You can not beat those prices. This frame idea would work great in my guest bedroom. I have a long wall and this would look great there. Thanks for the idea!

My husband is not going to like you when he comes home tomorrow and sees that I've painted my kitchen just so that I could have a set of frames that "pop" on wall!! I'll post them on my blog and link it back to you when I am finished. Many thanks for the great idea!! ALWAYS looking for an easy was to display the 4 kid's art!

I just found your blog via Cottage Instincts. I have an art wall like yours in my kitchen but my frames are black. Unfortunately, I didn't get such a great deal on my frames! I love the turquoise! I may repaint mine after we move!

That is seriously the best idea yet for displaying kids art. My magnet board is great but the magnets fall off a lot. I am so happy you shared this project on CSI. If only I could find a good deal on new frames too :-)

I'm so glad you shared this project! I've been trying to think of a good way to cut down on the refrigerator door clutter, and have a cute way to display my children's creations, at the same time. This is the perfect solution! Now, how in the world did you come across that 90% off sale?

I am trying really, really hard to not hate you. For not only having a Hobby Lobby, but for getting all of these rad frames for cheap. Then you went and painted them my fave color. So the not hating? It's super hard. I'm working on it though. Brilliantly done. Brilliant.

Wow, what a great idea! i've seen the empty frames a ton, but i love your idea to use them as an art gallery. With 3 littles making TONS of crafts, i'm always trying to think of ways to display their art in a pretty way. thanks! :)

Such a wonderful idea! I found your photo on Pinterest and it's going to be my inspiration for the "Pinterest challenge" Emily Henderson blogged about it here: http://www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/did-i-hear-something-about-a-design-challenge.html

I LOVE this, and am 90% done with doing this in my own dining room based on your idea! I found some clearance frames, repurposed some old frames, painted them the color of my living room to contrast/complement the dining room (you can see one room from the other) and instead of a chalkboard I am doing a linen covered bulletin board. I also added a shallow wall shelf that has been floating around our house looking for a home. Instead of binder clips I used mini-clothes pins painted to match the frames. I can't wait to hang everything later today!

I've got my frames all ready to paint but wondered, did you not sand or prime them before paining them? I'd love to skip that step but dont want to if its important. I dont have much experience with painting. Thanks!!

No, I didn't sand or prime these. Since they are a somewhat distressed look anyway, I wasn't concerned with chipping. Also, they will not get a lot of "wear" since they are just hanging on the wall. I'd love to see yours when they're finished!

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Here are some thoughts about my blissfully ordinary life as a wife to the man of my dreams and mom to 4 great little imperfect people...and any other random thing that may come to mind. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the countless ways He's blessed me throughout my life. He's the most important Person you'll ever meet & if you don't know Him, please let me be the one to introduce you to Him!